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Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly, Link Wray and the Dance Parties of 1958 and 1959
Deejay Alan Freed, the godfather of rock ’n’ roll, is also credited with the invention of rock ‘n roll “package” tours. Those shows, which toured state-to-state, city-to-city, featured a rotating cast of musical stars of the moment who could be shuffled in-and-out of the tour depending on who was charting.
In March 1952, Freed’s “Moondog Coronation Ball” showcased a now largely unremembered line-up of rock and rhythm-and-blues artists, including Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams on his honking sax, The Dominoes, Danny Cobb, Varetta Dillard, and Tiny Grimes’ Rockin’ Highlanders, an African American group whose schtick was performing in kilts.
Billed as “the most terrible ball of them all,” the concert lived up to its slogan. According to the next day’s Cleveland Plain Dealer, an estimated 6,000 psyched-up boppers tried to crowd into the tiny Cleveland Arena all at once. “About 9:30 they stormed the Arena, knocking down four panel doors, brushing police away and storming inside,” reported the Plain Dealer. “Some two hours and 30 policemen later, Captain Zimmerman called it a night.”
Even though the show was supposed to go for another two hours and climax with a “coronation” of…
